This year marks the 25th anniversary of DP Review and for those of you who've Been following along you'll be the first To recognize that we've been through a Lot I've been making things personally And professionally for a long time Recently I've been thinking a lot about This idea of why we make and share Images and what does it mean when we do So in an online world where context is Usually collapsed or lost all together This series is an attempt to explore Those themes and hopefully allow us to Have deeper Sation about images that we Make and Share in this first episode we'll sit Down with photographer Tim Aunis Tim just completed his first speed Project it's an unsanctioned Longdistance foot race that runs from Los Angeles to Las Vegas running is Something that's deeply personal for Tim As was this experience these are the Stories behind his Photos yeah this first photo is from the Start line and for me I felt This is like an actual perfect photo for The start line because I you know when You and I had spoken first off M it Was um I had no expectations for this Event and what I was going to get you Know all I know is that I just wanted to Define kind of what it meant to me my Perspective and you know this photo
Feels chaotic it feels um feels all over The place it's obviously like a really Cool photo with with different types of Light sources and blurring and all that Fun stuff but um to me like I really had No idea what was happening here and I Got here and I was like ready and I was Like great what am I going to shoot and I didn't really know still and I just Saw I watched everybody doing their own Thing that you know there's tons of Cameras there's tons of people taking Photos and you know video and stuff like That like full on documenters and stuff So it's a pretty big um you know you Really kind of like to me it just kind Of hit me I was like whoa okay this is It's a big deal um you know and what's Happening Here and how unique this is And but it kind of like created a lot of Chaos in my mind on how I want like I Was like what do I do here you know CU I Also didn't want to just do what Everybody else was doing I kind of want To also do like what do I want to do and So this this photo I think resembles Like um it does resemble the start but It also represents just kind of the Chaos that I had experienced for me Personally like it kind of shocked me When I got here that you know I've seen I've seen photos of what the star looks Like but it you know you don't really Like doesn't really like hit you until
You get there you know it's real um at 4 Am on Friday you know where you know There's there's you know a couple Hundred people here in Santa Monica at The pier you know that are gonna run off Here and start heading towards Las Vegas So Um yeah I think it's a really cool shot It's fun because you're you know I was Playing with kind of an on camera flash Um and kind of you using some kind of Funky light techniques to kind of get These blurring um techniques where You're essentially like kind of I had a 24 to 70 on zoom and you just kind of Like Zoom the lens as you take the shot It's a slightly shower slower shot with A really kind of hit blast of light that Allows you to get these like kind of you Know really kind of swiped look or paint Paintbrush Strokes to the photo um but I Thought I thought it's really cool um And I think it resembles everything that Was happening At the beginning of this event so this This next photo um this is kind of Coming out of La like through Canyon Country area and I thought this is rad Because at this point this is kind of Where my my brain turned on for the Event um and what was happening and you Know I was like enjoying just the run And the experience but like for me and In this group here there's there's four
Guys in in the foreground you know one Person finishing and there's three at The Jeep and um we had kind of this like Crazy experience in the beginning of the Event where Um uh one of the the our our RV um Passenger side window and reiew mirror Had kind of got Sid swiped by by a tree And blew out and they cut it like it was Just like this thing like it was Unexpected wasn't planned obviously and So this this RV that had you know a Handful of people had to pause and get Help and wait for the the window to be Repaired we tape it up and put a new Review Mir on so at that point like our Team our team uh Captain was like Hey I'm taking four people with me we're Gonna jump on the Jeep and we're gonna We're GNA run we're g to switch off Every 2K between us all and until this Until the RV gets fixed and can meet us Up so we really had no no idea when that Would Be but we knew like Hey yeah let's be competitive and and And let's go have fun with this part and So you know between myself and these Four guys here this is where like our Our kind of bond was quickly you know Forged here and and where we all kind of Looked at ourselves and like all right Let's pick up the slack here and you Know get this get our team in a good
Position until um the RV's ready to meet Us up but I think this is also really Cool too just because like there's There's a Sentimental like thing that Was happening where I like we were Having this experience but then also Like you're seeing you're going it's Just it's pretty insane you know um when You really think about it and just Running because it take you know I I Lived here in Southern California it Takes four about four hours to get there And drive there which just is also a Long time in the car you know and then You're also like well we just ran there And this is where we went through and It's a pretty unorthodox way to get There too this photo here this might be My favorite of all the images um and This is kind of like getting out of Lancaster Palm this is like the high Desert area and Um it's it's it's dry it's dusty it was Really windy um and you just kind of Like feel it here you know you feel this Experience Um The this is before power line yeah um This is yeah day one so this is kind of Like you're you're in the high desert Here so the elevation high enough to the Point where it um you feel it you know Lum capacity wise where you're kind of Struggling to run but you're also like
Dealing with like this like a lot of Dust it was like I said in the evening It was starting to get we knew a storm Was coming so this is kind of the early Remnants of the storm coming because it Was it did snow and it did rain out There the next day um and this is kind Of like what kicks up out here is this Like being very well known from very Dusty and having these like kind of Little you know dust devils and things Like that that that pop up um so this is Like you know the foreground obviously It's it's what my teammates here filling Up this water Bottle but you kind of just I don't know It's it's kind of like a really powerful Image I don't have a ton of words for it Just it just Felt you feel this image here I feel Like and then uh this is still day one And this is still coming out of the high Desert but I just this was a really just A really beautiful image I think Um you know where where sunlight turns To to Sunset Um and you know you you're just on the Road this is where like you have the Light behind you and you're running into The darkness and this is what it's going To be for the next you know 10 hours um Or however long it is and you're putting A head lamp on and a jacket and some Gloves and you're getting out there and
You run it doesn't stop you know like You don't wait until you know Sun starts To come up you you know you run through The evening and this is this is my Opinion is where the event is made um Like my my the captain I actually he he Was actually they're all from the UK as I mentioned he was actually out here This last week and we grabbed a coffee Yesterday um and we were talking about Running this next year too and and kind Of like what we would do you know Differently or how we would adjust and You know we talked about the evening Being kind of like that's that's where This event really gets made and how you Kind of really separate yourselves from The others here is by you know not Taking it easy during the evening or the Night time because it's harder to see And harder to navigate and and get Around and everybody's tired naturally At night where you want to just rest and Do nothing this is where I think you got To kind of turn your turn your switch on Really and really treat it like daylight Um and and so I think going into the Evening is kind of like where it's like The freaks come out at night type of Thing you know it's kind of a Um this is this is kind of like the the Sun coming down on that and you're kind Of getting into the weird part of the of The event you know this image
I it it's it means a lot to me in terms Of like this is where I feel everything Is from this race this is where it kind Of like really I think began the test Myself and I think my team was tested Here because um it start it was cold it Was Probably I don't know it must have been Like 40 something degrees so it's chilly But you know you're um it's raining and And and it's windy as hell and you know You're you're really in the elements Here like the I don't even think like The dirt you see really does it justice Here it's like this kind of mixture of Sand and compact dirt and like kind of Technical rocks that changes every like 100 meters it's a really tricky place to Run and and um really testy because you Know once you starting to get into a Rhythm then you hit this other patch of Sand you kind of kind of slow down and You're looking for these like kind of Like even spaces to run that are kind of Easy for you to run on and it just There's no there's no rhythm out here um It's It's so it's so tricky um but you also See just like kind of at the middle Point of the photo or just how far there Really is no end to this thing it feels Like um like I felt like running out Here took an entire day but it really Only was like you know maybe four hours
I think and it was five of us just kind Of rotating a k every single kilometer We were swatching swi switching in and Out and and um you know we we actually Just got through at at think a time Because I think this road end up getting Shut down a few hours later because the Snow kind of came through and made it Almost impassible so a lot of teams like Couldn't even make it and they had to Adjust routes or they just had to kind Of DNS just kind of did not finish Because they they couldn't make that Adjustment um but this is a photo I can I can taste I can smell I could hear um It it's brings you right back there yeah It's it's it's a it's something I won't Forget because you know Not only was it Like an extreme like test of my um like My Ability this is where I I thought this Was going be easy this part I I I was Like it was be easy it was like this is Probably like one of the hardest tests I've had like physically Runing in a Long time um because you know you want To you want to keep your you want to Keep it together for your team and and Yourself and like you know commit to Doing it Um but you know you're also just trying To like you've got you know maybe 15 Minutes between each you know between When you run and when you got to go up
Again so you're using that 15 minutes to Like have a good time but you're like Not really you're wondering when it's Over when it's going to be done and You're just trying to get yourself ready To the next one like I I could not think Five legs ahead of me I was just like Cool how many do we got to do out here Like we got everybody's got to do you Know 12 to 13 like like K like I'm just Counting them down you know like just One after another like stretching using The fun drinking what I can eating what I can just getting ready um and then I'm Also trying to take photos too like you Know like um so I'm doing that as well Too along the way but this is like like I said you could taste you could smell You could hear like this there's this Stretch of power lines that runs from Basically just outside Baker and goes Right into Prim and um the Uh it it's it tastes metallic it smells Metallic and you could hear just this Buzz it's a it's a it's a very like you Hear this out here when you think you Should be hearing nothing out here you Hear these things just transmitting Electrical signals to these power lines That go into Vegas um and It's yeah it's it's it's interesting It's Unique um and so yeah this is this Is a good one I think like the way is Kind of like
Obviously compositionally it's cool Because you kind of get this depth of Like this never ending trail of you know You don't know where the hell you're Going when it's going to stop but um you Know it's I think it's uh it's rough It's grainy it's gray it's uh you know You get this windshield wiper kind of Coming across it of at a kind of a cool Angle um I shot this from inside the car Too just on a telephoto I was like oh This worked out really Nice so this next photo I think is just Kind of cool just as we're kind of Coming in from from from Prim to Vegas It's all roads it's all downhill it's Flat we we um had heard that you know a Team that we kind of gone back and forth With on Power Line Trail has has uh We're fairly close so you know everybody Was just kind of mustering up exactly You Know they were mustering whatever we Could up just to get from each K Tok so I think as a team it was kind of cool to Run this as a group all of us instead of Running you know five people at a time We all just kind of jumped in together And we all switch KS until got into to Vegas so it was a nice kind of like way To kind of bring it home and and to wrap It Up this is also a cool photo I just feel Like it's really real it's authentic
It's it's um uh there's nothing forged About this one and it's it's literally The guy Brian that was in the previous Photo here exactly how he felt as soon As he finished that last K because like I said we were chasing down another you Know another team right ahead of us and So I think it was us like the difference Between us getting 11 uh and 10th you Know was was uh was that team so you Know we're hoping for a top 10 obviously We got 11 but um I thought this is a Really just an incredible photo of kind Of exactly how hard you know uh somebody Put you know their body on the line and Sacrificed themselves to to kind of keep Our team you know moving forward and Going as fast as we can and then last Photo is is uh you know our finished Photos you know and especially I think If you kind of browse to the photos from You know photo number one to to this Photo you kind of see this very like um You know authentic growth between all Teammates you know and and it was kind Of cool because like I I only really Hung out with these this this group of Guys for you know maybe you know 72 Hours or whatever it was and literally By you know after 35 hours we you know We were it was like family it was pretty Cool you know and this is a group that I Think all you know always keeping Contact with and you know always have
Really incredible stories you know I I Got together with with um ton who's you Know pictured in the middle here uh with The blue hat who's kind of really Throwing up the the champagne there and We went on the ru it was just like Sharing War Stories is pretty cool um And so this is like I think a really Special photo for me and and you know Seeing um just kind of the the Excitement the you know sense of Accomplishment and um you know and just Kind of uh everybody just being behind Each other and you know there was no Bickering there's no complaining there Was no fighting along the way it was all Just you know teamwork cooperation and And you know respect for everybody and So uh um you know it's a really Beautiful shot
